Hunter Plake talks 'The Voice': I'm not even sad about my elimination, I knew Jesse Larson would be saved

Hunter Plake was eliminated from The Voice's twelfth season just before the finals round, but he certainly made a name for himself on the show.


Hunter, a 20-year-old from Baton Rouge, LA, from Gwen Stefani's team found himself singing to be saved during the semifinals' live results show along with fellow "Team Gwen" member Brennley Brown and Adam Levine's only remaining team member, Jesse Larson.

This news came after Vanessa Ferguson and Terry "TSoul" Pinkard had been automatically eliminated for receiving the fewest amount of home viewer votes cast following the Top 8 performance show.

During his post-elimination interview, Hunter talked to Reality TV World about what he believes drives the "Instant Save" vote.

"You know, I think that the coaches do have a big sway in what they say, but I think a lot of it too has to do with the Twitter followings. Adam has a butt load of followers on Maroon 5 and on his personal [page], and that has a big [impact]. I mean, it would be really silly to say that didn't have a big say in what happens," Hunter explained.


When Adam was vouching for Jesse to stay, he pointed out that the artist would be the first one-chair turn ever to make it to the finale, referring to how Jesse had only sparked Adam's interest during "The Blind Auditions" round. Viewers could say that played a huge role in America choosing to save Jesse.

"I'm really happy for Jesse. I'm really excited for him and I'm so glad that he got saved," Hunter told Reality TV World.

"And he absolutely killed that song last night, 'Tennessee Whiskey.' That was actually my favorite song he has ever done on the show. So when I listened to him, I was just thinking like, 'Man, he's going through.' And, you know, I thought it was awesome."

Also during his phone interview, Hunter talked with reporters about his decision to sing "With or Without You" by U2 for the Top 8 performance show.

Unlike with his previous work on The Voice, Hunter chose not to drastically change the classic song's arrangement to make it his own. He stayed true to the original, which Adam actually called "refreshing."


"I actually don't regret it at all," Hunter said of the song choice. "When I went into this thing, I really -- my mindset was, you know, if I won it, it would be cool. But honestly at the end of the day, I wanted to represent myself as an artist as well as honor people as far as whenever I did the covers of the songs."

Hunter continued, "And with the U2 song, I honestly just wanted to do something for my hero. My hero is Bono, he's probably my biggest influence in the music industry. So I actually don't regret it at all, and I'm not even sad about going home. I'm actually really excited about the future and I'm ready to drop music."

For his "Instant Save" song, Hunter performed "Love Runs Out" by One Republic. He told reporters that he basically just picked the tune off a list The Voice had provided him. "Water Under the Bridge" by Adele was his second selection.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski